Due to the possibility of decades-long sentences in the federal system, the vast majority of cases are never heard by a jury; defendants are sentenced by federal judges to mandatory minimums after pleading guilty to a reduced set of charges offered by the prosecution in a plea deal.

Larry Ronald Duke was convicted of conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute in excess of 1,000 kilograms of marijuana –and attempted possession with the intent to distribute in excess of 1,000 kilograms of marijuana.

In 1989, Larry and co-conspirators purchased marijuana from a government confidential informant–who had a prior marijuana arrest. Undercover officers set up the sale, and arrested Duke and his co-conspirators after delivering 4,800 pounds of marijuana to them.

Larry is a decorated Vietnam combat veteran who served two tours of duty in Vietnam with Delta Company 1st Battalion, 7th Marine regiment. Mr. Duke has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder due to his military service in Vietnam.

“While I was there, I often thought I would probably die in a firefight in Viet Nam, and then later, I thought maybe I’d catch a streamer while sky-diving and crash and burn. Or perhaps, lose control of a car at a very high rate of speed, but never in my wildest dreams have I ever imagined I’d die in prison.”

Larry has been incarcerated since 1989. Prior to his arrest Larry was a carpenter and inventor. Larry continues to work on engineering problems in prison. Larry Duke obtained a federal patent for a clean water-delivery system while serving his life sentence.

Larry has a wife, two children, two grandsons, and a large extended family who needs him home. Larry fervently wishes that Congress will “opt to give some degree of hope of our having one more shot of Tequila, and one more slow dance with Sheila before we go.” –Larry Ronald Duke, Jesup Federal Correctional Institution, Jesup, Georgia, April 27, 2013.

Larry Ronald Duke WAS LWOP POW- this
means Life Without the Possibility of Parole. Larry is a 68 year old man
who has served 26 years of his two life-without-parole sentences for a
marijuana-only conspiracy ~ HE WALKED AWAY FROM PRISON A SOMEWHAT FREE
MAN ~ PROBATION FOR A DECADE BUT ON THE OUTSIDE ALL THE SAME!!!

We were lucky enough to hear from Larry
on THSI Radio on Sunday, March 8, 2015, just 72 hours after he walked
away from prison. Larry said he was in his old house-robe which his
wife had saved along with his other clothes & shoes. He said it was
like "stepping back in time." You can listen to the archived show here.

Southern California medical marijuana patient and provider Aaron Sandusky is serving a 10 year federal prison sentence for operating a medical cannabis cooperative in full compliance with state law.

Federal authorities threatened clinics such as Sandusky's G3 Holistics, Inc. (Upland, CA) in 2011. In June 2012, Aaron Sandusky, his brother, and four other people were arrested during a DEA raid of the G3 Holistics medical cannabis clinic.

At a jury trial in fall 2012, Sandusky was convicted of possession with intent to distribute marijuana involving at least 1,000 plants. Sandusky received a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years on January 7, 2013.

Civil attorney Dale Schafer and his wife, physician Dr. Mollie Fry, began
serving 5 year sentences on May 2, 2011 for cultivating medical
marijuana in a home garden that never had more than 44 plants at a
time. However, the federal government added up the number of plants
grown in the seasons between 2001 and 2005 and charged the couple with
growing 100 or more plants, which carries a 5-year mandatory minimum
sentence. The couple spent more than six years of litigation and three
years of appeals for charges of manufacturing and conspiracy to
manufacture and distribute cannabis.

Dr. Fry, a breast cancer
survivor who had gone through a radical mastectomy, grew her own
medicine throughout her illness, surgery, and chemotherapy. Schafer
suffers from
hemophilia and failed back syndrome, is under constant care, and also
medicated with cannabis legally.

The judge wouldn’t allow any medical evidence. They wouldn't let us
tell the jury I was sick, or that I was a doctor. They
wouldn’t allow that I was helping sick patients. Ironically, two years
before the raid, local authorities asked me to tell them who of my
patients were 'really' sick, and who wasn't." I told them it wasn't my
job to police my patients, and that everyone who came to me had
legitimate health issues. They have treated us like criminals.

~Dr. Mollie Fry

Cannabis is proven medicine. Why would the state of California create
laws based on what the people want, and then allow the federal
Government to override them? I had cancer, we were growing
medicine. I was helping people.

~Dr. Mollie Fry

###

Physician and Attorney Call Medical Marijuana Case a Vendetta

Couple questions role of local law enforcement, dismisses allegations.

An El Dorado County physician and attorney, facing 40 years in
prison for allegedly selling marijuana from their medical clinic, are
accusing prosecutors of building their case on a foundation of lies and
law-enforcement bias against medical marijuana.

"I don't believe a jury of California citizens will find the
conduct of these two people was in any way criminal", said defense
attorney Laurence Lichter following the arraignment June 22 of Dr.
Marion "Mollie" Fry and husband and attorney Dale Schafer.

Fry and Schafer return to federal court at 9 a.m. on July 22 for a
status conference before U.S. District Court Judge Garland Burrell.

Dr. Fry and Schafer contend that El Dorado law-enforcement
officials encouraged the couple to open a medical-marijuana practice
consistent with state law, and then conspired with federal anti-drug
officials to enforce federal law, in direct violation of their state
constitutional duty. Further, the couple adamantly denies the
allegations raised by a prosecution witness, someone they believe
traded false accusations in return for leniency from prosecutors.

Any trial will revolve around the issue of whether or not Fry and
Schafer were protected by federal law during the period that the
Oakland Cannabis Buyers Club case was before the courts.

On the morning of June 22, El Dorado County Sheriff's deputies
stopped and arrested Dr. Marion "Mollie" Fry on her way to her
medical office in Cool, where she has operated a cannabis-consulting
practice since August, 1999. At the same time, El Dorado deputies took
Fry's husband, attorney Dale Schafer, into custody at the couple's
Greenwood home. After handcuffing Fry, 49, and Schafer, 51, the
deputies turned the pair over to agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Agency, who transported them to the Federal Courthouse in Sacramento.

At the arraignment later that day, the U.S. Attorney's Office
unsealed an indictment handed down by a federal grand jury a week
earlier, accusing Fry and Schafer of conspiracy to manufacture
marijuana and conspiracy to grow 100+ plants with known and unknown
persons. Each of the two felony counts carries a minimum sentence of
five years in prison up to 40 years, a $2 million fine and four years
of supervised release.

At the hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter A. Nowinski agreed to
release Fry and Schafer on a $25,000 unsecured bond apiece. At the
urging of Asst. U.S. Attorney Anne Pings, neither will be allowed to
use marijuana, or the FDA-approved Marinol, while awaiting trial. Dr.
Fry and Schafer pled not guilty and agreed to abide by the bail
conditions. Outside the courthouse,

Lichter blasted the U.S. Attorney's Office for prosecuting Fry and
Schafer for actions that were legal at the time under federal law.

"My clients are being tried under the new law for behavior conducted under the old law", Lichter said.

The arrest of Fry and Schafer followed a four-year investigation,
highlighted by the DEA's search of the couple's Greenwood home, office
and a storage facility on Sept. 28, 2001. The DEA seized the medical
records of an estimated 6,000 patients, and confiscated 32 cannabis
plants and an amount of processed marijuana from their residence.
Schafer and Fry were both allowed to use medical cannabis under the law
in California. At the time, Schafer was campaigning for the office of
El Dorado County District Attorney, and eventually finished third in
the race won by incumbent District Attorney Gary Lacy.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento met with Fry and Schafer
previously in a pre-indictment conference, but was unable to persuade
the couple to accept a plea agreement. Schafer said prosecutors broke
their promise to allow the couple to surrender if an indictment was
issued in an apparent attempt to humiliate the professional couple.

"We would have come down here, but they showed up instead with
guns and handcuffs", said Schafer, who was cooking breakfast for his
children when the El Dorado deputies and DEA agents arrived at his
doorstep.

Fry and Schafer contend that they opened the California Medical
Research Center after El Dorado County Narcotics Office Tim McNulty
asked for their help in determining who in the county were valid
medical-marijuana patients, and who were not. A deputy district
attorney had also inspected the couple's personal cannabis garden to
see that it complied with the county's standard. Fry and Schafer helped
negotiate the county's 10-plant guideline along with other members of
the American Alliance for Medical Cannabis.

Schafer, who advised Doctor Fry's clients on the legalities of
medical marijuana, maintains that El Dorado law-enforcement officials
are bound by the California Constitution, namely Article 3, Section
3.5, to uphold a state law that conflicts with federal law, unless it
is overturned at the appellate level. No public or private interest has
sued to overturn Prop. 215, so California peace officers are duty bound
to uphold the controversial measure.

"You can't work hand in hand with the feds and, yet, have a
constitutional obligation to support the state law when it conflicts
with federal law", Schafer said. "That's entrapment by estoppel".

However, at the same time local authorities were ostensibly
cooperating with Fry, Schafer and other El Dorado County medical users,
the county's application for federal marijuana-suppression funds
painted a starkly different portrait. In a 90-day Status Report for the
county's 2000-01 Byrne Memorial Grant of $171,100, El Dorado Sheriff's
Lt. William Whealton identified the couple's cannabis consultations as
"a sham" and questioned the validity of their patients medical needs.
Here is an excerpt:

"In El Dorado County, we experienced an attorney/doctor team that
specialized in helping 'patients' obtain the certificate that enabled
them to grow marijuana under Proposition 215. This team then would
supply the 'patients' with marijuana. They also conducted seminars in
the growing and cultivation of marijuana. The process of obtaining a
certificate was such a sham that we were able to send undercover
officers into the office without medical records and obtain the
certificate". ["Patients" quote marks in original.

To convince a jury Schafer and Fry must persuade them to reject
the testimony of two former employees. According to Schafer, the
employees stole patient recommendations, and engaged in illicit
activities they later blamed on Fry and Schafer.

"We weren't selling marijuana out of our office, that's an
outright lie", insisted Schafer. "We've been smeared for years by what
these snitches claimed we were doing".

Law enforcement remains antagonistic toward medical cannabis.
Agents denied Schafer the right to take his pain medication before
arresting him and as a hemophiliac he was forced to have a costly
infusion due to internal bleeding caused by the ankle cuffs the couple
were forced to wear during their entire incarceration of over six and a
half hours on June 22nd. Upon release that day, Dr. Fry was devastated
to learn that federal marshalls had lost her wedding ring and the
crucifix the devout Catholic wears on a necklace.

Fry and Schafer are native Californians who led exemplary lives
before coming to the attention of law enforcement. Fry, who earned her
medical degree from the University of California at Irvine, comes from
a family with a long tradition of practicing medicine. In fact, her
grandfather, Francis Marion Pottinger was a leading expert in the
treatment of tuberculosis decades before an effective treatment was
developed and he employed the use of Cannabis before it was deemed to
be illegal. Dr. Mollie Fry is a breast cancer survivor, having
undergone a double mastectomy 10 years ago. Fry and Schafer have five
children with three still at home.

Please show your support for Prop. 215, SB 420 and the Doctors,
Patients and Lawyers who continue to uphold the Law in California and
in so doing affirm the will of the People of California.

Rally at the Federal Courthouse, 501 I St., Sacramento this Friday morning, July 22nd, 2005 at 9AM.

Cool, CA. Sep 28. In the first federal raid of a medical cannabis
clinic, DEA agents raided the office and home of Dr. Marion "Mollie" Fry
and her attorney husband, Dale Schafer, directors of the California
Medical Research Center in El Dorado County, seizing all of their
patient records.

The CMRC provided medical recommendations and legal consultations for
over 6,000 Prop. 215 patients in California. The government is now
holding all of their records for further investigation.

DEA agents also seized 33 plants and processed marijuana belonging to
Dr. Fry, who is herself a breast cancer patient. Dr. Fry says that she
and her 14-year-old son were thrown to the ground at gunpoint and
handcuffed while agents ransacked their house.

No charges have been filed yet, pending further investigation. The
government has indicated that it is interested in prosecuting Fry and
Schafer, not their patients. It contends that the couple helped patients
obtain marijuana in violation of federal law by selling recommendations
as well as cultivating and distributing it from their garden.

Schafer admits that he provided marijuana for some sixty patients prior
to the Supreme Court decision, acting in the capacity of a legal Prop.
215 caregiver. He says that he supplied it free to those who were poor
and charged $80 per ounce (one-fourth the regular black market price) to
the others to pay for the costs of a gardener.

Although the U.S. district court in San Francisco has issued an
injunction barring the DEA from going after physicians for recommending
marijuana, the order does not apply to cases involving manufacture or
distribution. Also, Attorney General Ashcroft has appealed the
injunction to the Ninth Circuit in the hopes of opening up yet more
federal prosecutions of doctors.

A federal court denied a motion by defense attorney J. David Nick to
have the CMRC's records returned, ruling that they were not protected by
attorney-client or physician-patient privilege. U.S. District Judge
Garland Burrell overruled an order by U.S. Magistrate Gregory Holllows
that the records first be reviewed by an independent special master to
screen out personal medical information in the patients' files. Burrell
ruled that the government could review all of the information it
pleased, insofar as there was no indication that the CMRC was engaged in
any lawful business. Defense attorney J. David Nick has appealed
Burrell's ruling to the Ninth Circuit.

The detention of Fry's records has jeopardized the legal status of her
many patients. Some law enforcement officers have refused to honor her
recommendations because she no longer has her files to confirm them.

The federal investigation of the CMRC had its origins in another,
sizable cultivation case last year involving former employees and
patients of Fry and Schafer. One of them turned informant and claimed
that the couple were selling marijuana. The government put their office
under electronic surveillance, and claims to have got a recording in
which Dr. Fry told patients they could buy clones for $5. However,
agents were turned down when they tried to buy pot from the center.

U.S. prosecutor Anne Pings described the CMRC as a criminal enterprise,
permeated with fraud." However, Schafer and Fry insist that they were
trying their best to comply with state law. Schafer says he consulted
with the Attorney General's office and the Medical Board before opening
the CMRC, although they were unable to offer concrete guidelines. The
center opened in 1999 and attracted a large clientele through
advertising and the Internet (www.cannabisdoctor.com). Schafer says the
CMRC enjoyed a good relationship with El Dorado County narcotics
deputies, who told him they would not have raided it except for federal
orders.

"This is so much bigger than medical marijuana," says Dr. Fry, "The
voters of California passed this law by referendum and have every right
to expect it would be respected."

The Obama administration's tactic against medical marijuana in California has been to have US Attorneys send letters threatening landlords with property forfeiture for renting their
property to dispensaries deemed too close to "sensitive areas" such as
schools and parks. In October 2011, as another round of federal assaults on medical cannabis providers was launched, a criminal indictment was unsealed against the operators of the North Hollywood, CA medical marijuana collective NoHo Caregivers. The dispensary was closed at the time of the indictment; the actions of the defendants had been monitored via a set of government-owned encrypted Blackberry devices during 2008 and 2009. Co-defendants Paul Montoya, Kathy Thabet, James Stanley, and Bryant Watson agreed to testify for the prosecution in exchange for a plea deal on a reduced set of charges.

Knowing his actions to be legal under state law, (namely, the voter-approved California ballot initiative Proposition 215), Noah refused cave to federal pressure to accept a plea deal. Read his own words below:

As of April 8th the government has offered me this crazy deal basically sign a guilty plea and get a 10 years
in federal prison (btw they actually are recanting this email they
sent to my defense team saying they made a mistake, if I sign they can
ask for more than 10 years as ten years is the mandatory minimum) or go
to trial and if I lose get 292-365 months 24.3- 30.41 years. Below is a copy of the letter.

Dear Ms. Margolin and Mr. Lawrence:In
the event that your client pleads guilty under the terms previously
discussed with you,the government would propose and advocate that he
receive a sentence of ten years imprisonment (the statutory mandatory
minimum), pursuant to the draft plea agreement.

In the event that a
trial takes place and he is convicted, here is the sentencing guidelines
calculation for which the United States will advocate: Base offense level: 32 (U.S.S.G. 2D1.1(c)(4) (more than 1,000 kgs) Role adjustment: +4 (U.S.S.G. 3B1.1(a) (organizer, leader) Specific offense characteristics: +2 (U.S.S.G. 2D1.1(b)(12)) (maintaining premises for the purpose of distribution) +2 (U.S.S.G. 2D1.1(b)(14) (livelihood, pattern of conduct)Total adjusted offense level: 40 = 292-365 months (Criminal History Category I)

This
is a huge difference "“ more than twice the amount of time the
government is offering -- and I wanted to make sure that this is
understood in the context of the proposed plea agreement.

In
addition, because this appears to be a point of contention, it is
important that your client understand that it is clear from the case law
that defendant need not be the sole organizer or leader of the drug
trafficking organization in order to warrant the upward adjustment so
long as he is one of the organizers or leaders with respect to five or
more individuals. The facts here, as illustrated by the email evidence
and the testimony of the witnesses, will demonstrate that your client
played a supervisory role regarding more than five people. For this
reason, we believe that he will be subject to the four-level enhancement
in his guidelines range as shown above.

By this letter, I am
specifically requesting that you make clear to your client the possible
consequences of the failure to accept the plea offer.If you believe
that this calculation is in error, have any questions, or wish to
discuss it further, please feel free to contact me.Very truly yours,

Noah Kleinman is currently in jury trial at the Untied States Federal Courthouse, 312 N. Spring St., Los Angeles. Community support for our brother bravely exercising his Constitutional right to a jury trial has been strong. Please join us this week.

Roger Christie is a commercial pilot,
former US Army conscientious objector who refused his orders to serve in
Vietnam, and longtime drug policy reform advocate. As a resident of
Big Island, Hawaii, he co-founded the Hawai'i Hemp Council and the
Hawaiian Hemp Company. By 1991, he had one of the first retail hemp
stores in the world. In June, 2000, he was ordained as a minister
through the Universal Life Church and founded the THC Ministry as a
cannabis sacrament minister. In 2004 and 2008, Christie ran for mayor
of Hawai'i County.

Christie ran the THC Ministry in Hilo, Hawaii
for ten years. For a $50 donation, a person could become a
“Practitioner” and receive a plaque, an “affidavit of religious use”,
two ID cards, and seven “Sacramental Plant Tags”. For $250, the donor
would get a “Sanctuary Kit” which also included the “THC Minsitry
Cannabis and Religion Guide."

On March 20, 2010, Federal agents
raided the downtown Hilo sanctuary of Christie's Hawaii Cannabis
Ministry, assisted by local police. Christie said authorities spent
about seven hours searching his home and ministry, starting around 6
a.m. The Drug Enforcement Administration, Internal Revenue Service, U.S.
Postal Inspector and U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service were
involved in the search.

A three-count sealed indictment in June
2010 charged Christie with conspiracy to manufacture, distribute and
possess with intent to distribute more than 100 marijuana plants,
manufacturing marijuana and possession with the intent to distribute 240
marijuana plants. According to court documents, authorities also
confiscated approximately 845 grams of processed marijuana in the
Wainaku apartment and more than $34,000 cash from the apartment and a
bank safe deposit box. The money and the apartment face possible federal
forfeiture. Christie allegedly provided a daily average of one half
pound of cannabis to
60 to 70 spiritual customers each day, or about 180 pounds (82 kg) per
year.

Christie was arrested on Thursday July 8, 2010, along with
13 others from the Big Island. The arrests culminated a two-year
investigation by federal and county law
enforcement during which they seized 2,296 marijuana plants, nine
weapons, 33 pounds of processed marijuana, more than $21,000 cash and
four properties. He was taken to Oahu, where he was incarcerated at the
Honolulu Federal Detention Center. All other detainees were speedily
released on bail or signature bond before trial. But Hawaii Federal
District Court Judge Alan Kay ruled that Christie must remain in federal
custody until his trial, because Christie represents a “danger to the
community.” Judge Kay's ruling was upheld by 9th US Circuit Court of
Appeals. Christie is being represented by a public defender.

Continuing
the family tradition of civic leadership, Roger's wife Share Christie
ran for Mayor of Hawai'i County in 2012. Hawaiian senators Russell
Ruderman and Will Espero have called for Roger Christie's release from
prison pending trial; both senators visited Roger Christie at the
Honolulu FDC on April 3, 2013. Sen. Ruderman has stated, “I have known
Roger for over 25 years. He is
one of the most peaceful persons I know. To anyone who knows him, the
claim that he is a danger to the community is absurd.”

Christie’s
trial was set for January 23, 2013; however, on Jan. 17, 2013, a
federal grand jury in Honolulu returned an updated indictment with
additional counts of marijuana sales in 2008 and failure to file a tax
return in 2008 and 2009. Christie’s trial on federal drug trafficking
charges has been set for July 23, 2013; he faces up to 40 years in
prison if convicted. Six co-defendants have already made plea deals
with the prosecution to cooperate with authorities.

New Hampshire liberty activist Rich Paul freely admits that in May 2012, he delivered multiple ounces of marijuana to a confidential informant, leading to his arrest by the Keene, NH, police department. Instead of being booked for a crime, Mr. Paul was interrogated by an FBI special agent who threatened him with 81 years in prison for the sale of controlled substances, while at the same time offering the suspect a "one time only" deal to drop the charges in exchange for entrapping other members of the Keene Activist Center by wearing a wire during felony drug transactions.

Viewing the FBI special agent's offer as entrapment of peaceful liberty-minded citizens, Mr. Paul refused the deal and invoked his right to legal counsel. He was booked and released from jail on his own recognizance (O.R.), to be later indicted on four charges of selling marijuana and one of selling a substance alleged to be LSD (which Mr. Paul claims was a legal hallucinogenic).

Immediately prior to his April 2013 trial, Rich Paul refused a "no jail time" plea deal, insisting publicly that he was not guilty because drug prohibition laws are inherently unconstitutional. United States juries have the power to nullify, or vote "not guilty" on charges they believe to be unjust or immoral. Jury nullification is the power of the people to change "bad laws" by refusing to convict. In fact, New Hampshire has a 2012 law permitting defense attorneys to inform juries of their right to "judge the application of the law in relationship to the facts in controversy."

Relying on this law, and his belief in the Constitution and Bill of Rights, Rich Paul took his case to trial. “Somebody had to stand up and say that this is wrong, and I thought I
might well be that guy,” Rich told Vice magazine. “I took the risk and now we'll
find out whether I bet my life well.”

On the advice of his public defender, Mr. Paul did not take the stand at trial to testify on his own behalf. In her instructions to the jury, defense attorney Kim Kassick quoted Socrates, "To find yourself, think for yourself," and explained that, "If you feel that it is unjust to apply the law to him, you can acquit him." In his instructions to the jury, Judge John C. Kissinger emphasized that the jury had to follow the law as he explained it. The judge did not permit any mention of jury nullification in the official jury instructions.

After a three-day trial, the jury returned a guilty verdict on all charges, with a maximum penalty of 100 years in prison. In June 2013, Rich Paul was sentenced to 12
months in jail, plus a
suspended prison sentence, plus probation of three years, plus a $650
fine.

Rich Paul is appealing his conviction on the grounds that the jury was denied knowledge of their power to decide the law shouldn’t be applied in particular cases. He was denied bail pending appeal and is currently serving his sentence in the Cheshire County Department of Corrections.

Medical marijuana pioneer Sister Somayah Kambui publicized the use of
hempseed oil and cannabis to treat sickle-cell anemia. Sickle-cell
anemia is a debilitating disease in which round red blood cells get
deformed into a "sickle" shape, blocking blood vessels, causing intense
pain, and damaging organs due to lack of oxygen. Sickle-cell disease
rarely affects anyone without African ancestry; as such it primarly
strikes the African American community and is largely unknown by the
American public at large.

There is no cure for sickle-cell
anemia; morphine is the standard treatment for the debilitating pain of
the disease. The use of morphine has produced thousands of medical
junkies. Marijuana, however, works as a vasodilator, opening up the
blood vessels, allowing the hook-shaped cells to move freely. Marijuana
also provides analgesic pain relief in addition to physically relieving
the blockage in the blood vessels. If marijuana is substituted for
opiate-based medicines, patients can obtain more effective relief and avoid narcotics addiction.

A
veteran of the U.S. Air Force and the Black Panther Party, Sister
Somayah Kambui received treatment for sickle-cell disease at the local
hospital, where she would drink a small cup of morphine, then be told to
come back in two days for another dose. "I couldn't do anything on the
morph," Sister told High Times reporter Peter Gorman. "And neither can a
million other people. That's why you see so many middle aged and older
black folk sitting on stoops looking like junkies.

"They are junkies. They're US government junkies."

According
to Peter Gorman, who received an education in the disease from Sister
Somayah, "About one out of 12 African-Americans carries the recessive
gene that causes it; the gene apparently helped carriers survive
malaria."

Kacj Herer & Sister Somayah - 2002 Los Angeles Global Marijuana March

It has passed largely under the radar of medical marijuana
activists, but as a California resident with the benefits of Proposition
215, Sister Somayah was able to establish the patients' group Crescent
Alliance Self-Help for Sickle Cell to provide marijuana to other
sufferers of the ailment.

Sister Somayah was raided five times
for marijuana cultivation following the passage of Proposition 215. Her
backyard garden was uprooted and seized twice in 2001. After her
acquittal by a jury on all felony charges in early 2002, her garden was
again raided by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). After she lost her
garden and spent painful days in jail without her medicine, the D.A.
declined to press charges. Another raid of Sister Somayah's garden prior
to the harvest in September of 2002 left her without cannabis or hemp
oil, resulting in a flareup of sickle-cell symptoms that put her in the
hospital on morphine for two weeks.

In October 2003, Sister Somayah's garden was raided by the DEA and a dozen plants were uprooted, with no charges immediately filed. California NORML Coordinator Dale Gieringer denounced the raid as a "mean-spirited, gratuitous attack on a seriously ill woman who has been judged guiltless by her peers under California law. Like other victims of DEA's medical marijuana raids, Somayah was targeted because she was a vocal, legal patient activist who was a thorn in the side of the law enforcement establishment."

Sister
Somayah Kambui produced the first Los Angeles Global Marijuana March
with fellow activists in 1999, acting as executive producer of all
subsequent marches until her death in 2008.

July 18th, 2002. In a unanimous ruling, the California Supreme Court granted medical marijuana patients powerful legal protection against state prosecution for possession and cultivation of marijuana. The court ruled that Prop. 215 is more than just a criminal defense but also provides qualified immunity from prosecution, and that defendants must be found guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt," not merely by "preponderance of evidence," a weaker standard that had previously been used by the courts.

A critical issue left unresolved by Mower is how much marijuana patients may cultivate or possess. In one of the first post-Mower trials in the state, patients Martin and LaVonne Victor of Temecula were denied a pre-trial dismissal by Judge James Warren on account of the fact that the amount of marijuana they had harvested (between 8 and 21 pounds) created a reasonable doubt as to whether they intended to sell it. The Victors say they had never grown marijuana before, and were told by police they could grow 15 plants. Having done so, they say the plants yielded more than expected. A defense fund has been established to cover the costs of their jury trial: Victors’ Legal Defense Fund, c/o MAPP, PO Box 739, Palm Springs CA 92263.

July 18th, 2002. In a unanimous ruling, the California Supreme Court granted medical marijuana patients powerful legal protection against state prosecution for possession and cultivation of marijuana. The court ruled that Prop. 215 is more than just a criminal defense but also provides qualified immunity from prosecution.

Patient cultivator Jason Browne has filed a complaint against Sonoma County sheriff’s deputies Steven Gossett and Andrea Salas for raiding and destroying his medical garden on July 18th, the same day as the Mower decision. Browne, who had been involved in efforts to establish legal medical gardens in Humboldt County, charges that the deputies falsified his record to obtain the search warrant, wrongly claiming that he had been arrested and charged for prior marijuana violations.

July 18th, 2002. In a unanimous ruling, the California Supreme Court granted medical marijuana patients powerful legal protection against state prosecution for possession and cultivation of marijuana. The court ruled that Prop. 215 is more than just a criminal defense but also provides qualified immunity from prosecution, and that defendants must be found guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt," not merely by "preponderance of evidence," a weaker standard that had previously been used by the courts.

The Mower decision was of no help to Prop. 215 patient Marvin Chavez, who was ordered back to state prison after a court turned down his sentencing appeal. Chavez, the founder of the Orange County Cannabis Cooperative, had been sentenced to six years in 1999 for selling small amounts of marijuana to two narcotics agents posing as patients, but was released on bail pending appeal in 2000. He was sentenced by Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Borris [...] remains at large despite having wrecked his car while driving with twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system. Chavez has another 20 to 24 months left to serve.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to
assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.